In November 2019, at the invitation of Prof. Iegor Reznikoff, Paul Oomen (Spatial Sound Institute, 4DSOUND) and Eric Raynaud (Fraction) followed his journey into the Arcy Caves which has prehistoric parietal paintings on its walls – taking the opportunity to explain his perception and theory on the use of human voices throughout the ages within resonant spaces, and in the case of caves, the possible correlations observed with the locations of ancient paintings.
The exploration, conceived as a multi-disciplinary project (anthropologic, scientific, artistic) was in particular dedicated to collect sound materials by using severals means :
– Binaural headset placed on Paul Oomen to record the full path of the journey
– Two 19-capsule spherical microphones (Zylia) to capture in Ambisonics format several long sonic sequences of the team progressing through the cave from several parallel locations within the cave
– ‘Cravate’-microphone placed on Mr Reznikoff to record dry voice, talks, intonations and murmurations
– Multichannel Impulse Responses of the caves measured with a Zylia microphone, and complied with Ircam Spat.
This short video sequence catches a particular moment of the journey when Prof. Reznikoff explains some of the core ideas behind the theories he has been developing since decades. About the sound recording of the video: the mix involves subtle stereo sound design layered in the background of the binaural renders recorded in the cave as mentioned above. This short movie is part of a larger documentation that is currently being gathered in multiple ways about Iegor Reznikoff’s singular approach, addressing the importance of the use of human voice and audible experience for acoustical research, its role in shaping the human perception of such spaces, the resulting socio-cultural behaviors, and beyond that, the emergence of artistic practices.
Movie direction and realisation by Eric Raynaud.
Project realisation: Eric Raynaud (Fraction), with participation of Iegor Reznikoff Paul Oomen (Spatial Sound Institute, 4DSOUND)
Camera takes : Eric Raynaud
Sound takes : Eric Raynaud and Paul Oomen
With the help of : Charly Gouault (Arcy Caves, Guide) Emma Giraud (Arcy Caves, Camera)
More about : Iegor Reznikoff: dep-philo.parisnanterre.fr/departement-de-philosophie/les-enseignants/reznikoff-iegor-66768.kjsp